Cathedral

I am sure you have noticed that Fair Isle is the in thing these days. Everyone from
Anthropologie to Ralph Lauren is showcasing it in their collections. Used as a
trim on a hat or as a main motif on a sweater, it is everywhere you look. Check
out some of the examples I found on our Pinterest board.

When our Creative Director, Susan Mills, was looking for a theme for December’s book (Cathedral)
she immediately thought of Fair Isle/color work.

While today’s Fair Isle can be traditional, it can also be
bold and exciting using vibrant colors, textures and contemporary charts. In
the book Cathedral, Susan used a variety of yarns (Ava,
Liberty Wool Light, Blackthorn, Wynter,
Soft Linen, La Gran, Fresco and more) to achieve her goal – a modern take on Fair Isle.

Some of you are already planning and are itching to cast on.
While others of you may be thinking “boy, that sure is pretty, but I don't
know…I've’ve never done Fair Isle before.” I want to ensure you that YOU CAN DO
THIS. Many of the sweaters are knit from the bottom up and have as little as 25
rows of color work - which is perfect for the beginner color work enthusiast.
It gives you plenty of time to work up your courage for the color section.

One of the great things about Fair Isle is that is looks
more complicated than it really is. You will only be working with 2 colors at a
time. If you are new to color work, I promise that you will get the hang of it.
It even becomes a little addicting –

‘Just one more row and I can see
the pattern a little better.’

‘Ok, that looks awesome; I wonder
what it will look like at the end of this row.’

‘I am almost at the end of this
motif. I’ll just knit till I get there and then put it down.’

Sounds familiar, right?

Another great thing about Fair Isle knitting is the number
of possibilities. When you add in more than one color, you add to the number of
ways to make your knitting project your own. It really is a lot of fun to go to
your LYS and play with the all the color options.

In the coming weeks, I will be sharing some color knitting
tips that the knitters of Classic Elite Yarns have picked up along the way.